New York, March 14 (IANS): Modernist painter V.S. Gaitonde's painting is estimated to fetch $2-3 million in the forthcoming sale of international auction house Sothbey's Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art here March 19.

Considered to be India's foremost abstract painter, Gaitonde's "Painting No.3" captures a pivotal moment in the artist's career when he turned away from his earlier geometric prints and began to experiment with a paint roller and palette knife.

The sale also features Goa-born artist F.N. Souza's "Untitled" painting that is estimated to fetch between $150,000 to $200,000, and noted Baroda master Bhupen Khakhar's "Buffalo Among the Flowers" that reflects verdant imagery of the Rajasthani miniatures and Nathdwara temple paintings. It too is estimated between $150,000 to $200,000, a statement said Friday.

Two seminal works of prominent Kashmiri painter Gulam Rasool Santosh are also on this sale. The "Reminiscence of African Sculpture" is one of the artist's earliest and largest abstract works to arrive in the market. It was created when the artist returned to Kashmir in 1956.

Besides, the sale also features five works from the Indian contemporary artists like Jitish Kallat, Subodh Gupta, Jagannath Panda, Ravinder Reddy and Sudarshan Shetty.